JOHNSTOWN —
Greater Johnstown High School’s Alkwan Williams turned a difficult situation into a positive development on Wednesday.
The Tribune-Democrat Defensive Player of the Year signed a letter of intent to continue his education and football career at Temple on national signing day.
“Temple is giving me another chance,” said Williams, who originally made a verbal commitment to Pitt prior to his senior season. He learned after his official visit to Pitt on Sunday that the Panthers program no longer had a scholarship available for him.
“It seems to me like the ugly side of college recruiting,” Johnstown coach Tony Penna Jr. said. “The bottom line is coach Steve Addazio at Temple has that program on the map. We couldn’t be happier.”
Williams made his verbal commitment to then-Pitt coach Todd Graham in June. He also had looked at the program when Dave Wannstedt was head coach the previous season.
While Williams initially was disappointed that a commitment he made to the Pitt football program more than a year ago had fallen through, he was grateful to land on his feet at Temple in Philadelphia.
“I just like the coaches, the facilities and the campus,” Williams said. “It was the only school that showed interest in me after everything that happened with Pitt. Todd Graham gave out too many scholarships.”
Penna said Williams was told to take his SAT again to improve his test scores. Williams said he is waiting for the new scores.
In the meantime, Graham left the Pitt program for Arizona State and was replaced by coach Paul Chryst.
“Alkwan went down for his official visit on Sunday,” Penna said. “After the visit was over on Sunday night he met with Coach Chryst and he told him he wasn’t sure he was going to get into school. Alkwan did everything they asked him to do. His grades were good enough to get in.
“Alkwan started (the recruiting process) with Wannstedt, then went with Graham, and because he committed early it limited his options when this happened,” Penna said. “Thank God for Temple, they stepped up.”
Addazio led the Owls to a 9-4 record and a New Mexico Bowl victory over Wyoming in his first season as head coach. Al Golden had rebuilt the Owls program prior to taking the Miami job.
Addazio was part of two BCS National Championship teams as an assistant coach to Urban Meyer at Florida.
“We feel this is a blessing in disguise,” Penna said.
Williams finished his senior season with 136 tackles and four sacks for the 9-2 Trojans. The 6-foot-1, 218-pound Williams made 31 tackles for a loss of yardage totaling 92 yards.
He returned a fumble 78 yards for a touchdown against rival Bishop McCort and took a ball out of the air on a hard hit on the quarterback and ran 33 yards for a key score at Forest Hills.
A four-time Tribune-Democrat All-Area selection and three-time first-team pick, Williams finished with 520 career tackles.
He had 21 sacks, 115 tackles for loss, five interceptions, eight forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
“It’s a great feeling just to know that I have another opportunity to go to another college,” said Williams, who also is a standout on the Trojans basketball team. “I’m excited about it. I don’t have to worry about it anymore. Everything is great now.”
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Johnstown grad signs with Temple instead of Pitt
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